We're finishing up season 4 of a unique progressive league, and need at least 2 new owners, and possibly a 3rd, for season 5.

This is a 21-season progressive league that is replaying the careers of the members of the 300 win club, plus a few pitchers who fell just short of that hallowed mark. The careers of these players span every era of WIS, and many of these guys are among the most colorful and interesting players in MLB history. Owners are not obligated to play all 21 seasons. Come and go as you wish.

Before signing up, please read these rules in their entirety. It’s not a complicated league; at its core this is just a twist theme. But there are several important considerations.

First: The primary purpose of this league is to replay the careers of these great players; winning any individual league is a secondary consideration. Please read that sentence again, as many times as necessary, and if you sign up, please be comfortable with the fact that in any given season, you may get a team that has no chance of competing. The 1941 Senators of Early Wynn are terrible.

Second, and closely related, each season each owner is expected to use his 300-win pitcher realistically, in both quantity and role. I will describe the usage requirements in more detail below, but basically this means that you should be planning on using these guys primarily as starting pitchers (generally this means not in tandems, and not in the bullpen, though there are exceptions), and with approximately the same frequency that he was used in real life. It defeats the purpose of this league to do otherwise.
OK, now for the details.

WHO ARE WE USING: To make this league workable, with the normal SLB 24-team league format, we need a set of pitchers whose total number of career seasons is divisible by 24. We begin with the actual members of the 300-win club. However, I am eliminating 5 from consideration: John Clarkson, Pud Galvin, Tim Keefe, Old Hoss Radbourn, and Mickey Welch. These 5 guys all:

• Had significant careers and large numbers of wins prior to 1885 (i.e. prior to the start of the WIS database)
• Played with many teams that have rosters that are very problematic to use in twist leagues
• Had some seasons that are virtually impossible to use realistically (e.g. Clarkson’s 1885 season)

The next closest guy to 300 wins is Bobby Mathews, but he falls into the same problem as the above guys. The next 5 on the list are: Tommy John, Bert Blyleven, Robin Roberts, Fergie Jenkins, and Jim Kaat. And amazingly, the math works. These pitchers collectively have 504 WIS-eligible seasons, which means this league will run for 21 seasons. (24x21=504). We will need to double up on some guys in a few seasons. For example, Nolan Ryan has 26 eligible SLB seasons, so there will be 5 seasons in this league where Ryan will appear twice.

We will progress our 300-win pitchers one season at a time. Each season we will do a random draw to assign each pitcher to each owner. This is NOT a keeper league; we will redo the random draw each season. You might get 84 Clemens in season 1, 42 Wynn in season 2, 88 Maddux in season 3, etc.

BUILDING YOUR TEAM: You must use the exact season of your pitcher’s career that you have been allocated, but you may TWIST any of his actual teammates from that season to fill out your roster, using www.baseball-reference.com as the definitive source for teammates. If your pitcher played for multiple teams in that season, you may choose which team you want to twist, but you MUST use the combined version of your pitcher who is allocated to the team you choose. For example, if you draw Carlton’s 1986 season, you may choose to twist his teammates from ONE and only one of the following: 86 Phillies, 86 Giants, 86 White Sox. And whichever you choose, you must use the combined 1986 Carlton version from that team.

If a team does not have 25 players with SIM-eligible seasons, you will be allowed to fill out your roster with the following $200K players. NOTE: These $200K players may ONLY be used if the team’s roster does not have 25 players with SIM-eligible seasons. If you have guys whom you can use, then you must do so.

Pitchers:
2020 Jordan Yamamoto
2020 Heath Hembree
2020 Matt Harvey
2020 Kyle Hart

Position Players:
2001 Glenallen Hill
2023 Nate Eaton
2020 Jose Martinez
2017 Cody Asche
1982 Butch Hobson
1989 Sam Horn

We will use a 90M salary cap, with no DH, no AAA, no WW, no trades, and no clones. Injuries will be off. League alignment will be random each season.

All teams will use WIS Park each season. My goal for this league is to see how each player does without WIS’s sometimes extreme park effects impacting the results.

USING YOUR PITCHER: Again, the goal is to replay their careers authentically. To ensure this, I am implementing the following rules:

1. Your pitcher must accumulate at least 90% of his actual IP/162 total.
2. If your pitcher started 40 or more games in real life, then he must get at least 40 starts for you as well.
3. If your pitcher started between 30-39 games in real life, then he must get at least 30 starts for you as well.
4. If your pitcher started between 20-29 games in real life, then he must get at least 20 starts for you as well.
5. If your pitcher started between 10-19 games in real life, AND at least half of his games pitched were starts, then he must get at least 10 starts for you as well.
6. If he started fewer than 10 games in real life, or if he started between 10-19 games but more than half of his total appearances were in relief, then there is no requirement for how many games he must start for you. You still must hit the 90% IP requirement.
7. You MAY also use your pitcher as a reliever if you choose, provided you hit the required GS and IP minimums.
8. Tandem usage is not strictly prohibited for your 300 W pitcher (very hard for me to verify), but it is discouraged. Tandems result in very distorted W-L records. And note that if you use your guy as a Tandem B, he will not be credited with a GS in the stats, and such games will not count in helping you meet the GS requirements. There are rare exceptions (for example, 1964 Perry) where tandem usage may be the most realistic way to use a guy, in order to meet his GS and IP requirements. But for most of these guys, just using them as a straight SP is the way to go.

For example, using 1986 Steve Carlton again, in real life he had 32 GS and 176 1/3 IP. If you draw him, he must get at least 30 starts and 158 IP for you.

Failure to achieve the required GS and IP minimums will result in a 10-win penalty in the standings PER VIOLATION and will render your team ineligible for the bonus prize. If the owner with 86 Carlton finishes the season with 25 starts and 142 innings, he will be penalized 20 wins off his team’s actual total.

FATGUYRD* BONUS PRIZE: Each season, before we do the random draw to assign players, I will announce a challenge for that season. This could be something like “fewest blown saves by a team” or “highest combined total of doubles plus triples.” Each season, I will donate the commissioner's WIS reward money to the owner who wins the challenge. This gives everyone something else to play for, which might be a lot of fun in those seasons when you know your team is just not going to be good enough to win the championship. The season 5 bonus prize will go to the team with the most net walks (walks drawn minus walks allowed)


ONE FINAL IMPORTANT NOTE: As with all my leagues, there will be strict deadlines for getting rosters entered. I have no patience with chasing people down to get their teams in, and it's not fair to other owners if 1 or 2 stragglers are holding us up. Please only join this league if you are comfortable with your ability to build and enter a team quickly once a league number has been generated.

*Named in honor of longtime WIS owner Fatguyrd, who was a charter member of the 500 HR league for many seasons before passing away.

Our current season finishes up on 4/2. I won't be able to generate a league number for season 5 until the playoff schedule for season 4 is set.

Very fun, competitive league. You'll use players you haven't used before, and get to watch some of the greatest pitchers of all time progress through their careers.